That's exactly what I felt on Friday as well. Tell me where to bring a pitchfork and I'm there.

This isn't really socialism because what they will do is out-source the management of these assets to the unquestioning servants of the oligarchies who control the government. Government functions are increasingly privatized. You could say that Hank Paulson isn't even working for the government at all. He's working for the oligarchies. The government has just become a tool of these oligarchies (a department in their vast enterprise) and so, technically, it's not socialism. It's Plutocracy.

You also gotta love this quote:

"I know of nobody who is arguing over the amount of money or even about that the secretary ought to have the authority to purchase these toxic instruments, these bad debts," said Senator Christopher Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee.

Oh, thank god.

Umm, silly question but, WHY THE HELL NOT!!

Also, I keep hearing this story about the meeting where Paulson told the congressmen about what was going to happen if they didn't do exactly as he said, without an ounce of debate or oversight, that something "very scary" would happen. Schumer and the rest keep repeating that it was so frightening that that they just all sat there with their jaws open and basically said "How much money do you need until we can feel safe again!!!"

Did this tall tale involve a mummy, or vampires, or a killer-robot of some type? Perhaps an attack on an American City by a "Cloverfield-like" monster. What exactly frightened them so much that it cannot even be spoken about or discussed with the American people? Could it simply be that they will all be out of a job? I am fairly sure that even though the US manufacturing capabilities have been weakened quite a bit in the past few years, we could still muster a few craftsmen with the wherewithall to slap together a proper guillotine.

I like the idea of a tax revolt and perhaps its time has come. Perhaps the 'tipping point' has been reached and enough Americans will just say 'NO'. If Paulson's sham plan is accepted than I say NO.

This quick fix bailout plan is a sham. I am not an economist nor claim to be one, but I do have questions that I would like answered:

1. WHO will be buying the eventual sale of these assets? Foreign countries thereby adding to foreign control of America through its debt?

2. Where is this money coming from, ie., how will it SPECIFICALLY affect taxpayers or consumers?

3. Why should greed be rewarded? Those who caused this crisis shouldn't walk away from this wealthy.

4. Will the CEO's walk away with their typical multi-million dollar rewards for failure?

5. Why does Pres. Bush need to have such power over this?

6. Why does this plan reward Wall St. and not Main St. (this one borrowed from Obama). Go ahead and let Wall St. crash. Main St. will bounce back on its own.

Paulson is a Republican and failed Republican policies caused this - why should we trust that Paulson, who scrambled with Bush to come up with a plan to bailout Wall St, is keeping his country first? Republicans are afraid that if they don't do this bailout, they will have civil unrest and a national revolution on their hands. Congress should not be strong-armed to accepting a fast track plan that may bite us all in the butt. If Paulson were such a genius, he should have had even a little bitty hint that this may have been coming.

And finally, Americans deserve this. They voted in the incompetent dolt Bush, if not the first time, then the second time. Two months before a major election, all of a sudden the house of cards is falling? I just hope that those Americans that voted for him are the ones that will suffer the most.

So if the Paulson/Bush strongarms want to push their quick fix plan through like the way Bush started his dirty little war based on lies, then Congress must assure No Blank Check.

Otherwise, let's just do nothing and see how disastrous this really is. Can we be much worse off? At least we'd have a clean slate to start with. Who will this be disastrous for? All I hear is the alarmist call, bailout or disaster looms. OK, I call your hand and let's see what you are holding.

Interesting enough, Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican president, back in the early 1900's publicly declared this:

"The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions, and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the State and the nation toward property....More and more it is evident that the State, and if necessary the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision and control as regards the great corporations which are its creatures."

I don't know where the Republicans went wrong, but they surely have hit bottom now.

EXCELLENT RESEARCH AND POST! This info should be spread all over front pages of all newspapers.

Cayman Islands has no oil or gas; what it has is drug money!

(See CROSSING THE RUBICON by Michael C. Rupert).

Rubicon also states Goldman Sachs' involvement (and enrichment) in the looting of Russia's economy which collapsed in 1998.

I think I read about 2 months ago that the poppy crop in Afghanistan has been very poor this harvest. (See Rubicon for the connection between Wall Street and drug trade).

We CANNOT trust Paulson, the ex-CEO and Chairman of Board at Goldman Sachs. There is nothing these guys won't do. He is demanding a dictator's powers to use as he wants and demanding that no governmental review or court can hold him liable for anything he does.

Sounds like: "I'm going to loot the world's treasuries and there's nothing you can do about it, so sign this NOW!"

Socialism is intended to benefit most members of the greater society. This bailout is just loading most members of the greater society with more debt. We are not the beneficiaries. I, my son, and his children (perhaps even his children's children) will be working to pay off this debt, just as we're working now to pay for all of the wars begun in order to protect the interests of the thin upper crust.

It is, as others have pointed out, cronyism. Don't bring socialism into it at all. It's an insult to socialism.